Princess Badroulboudour hither to-night,
as thou didst yesterday."

The genie obeyed as faithfully and exactly as the day before; the grand
vizier's son passed the night as coldly and disagreeably, and the
princess had the same alarm and mortification. The genie, according to
orders, came the next morning, and returned the new-married couple again
to the palace.

The sultan, after the reception the princess had given him, was very
anxious to know how she had passed the second night, and therefore went
into her chamber as early as the morning before. After the same caresses
he had given her the former morning, he bade her good-morrow. "Well,
daughter," said he, "are you in a better humour than yesterday?" Still
the princess was silent, and the sultan, perceiving her to be in greater
confusion than before, doubted not that something very extraordinary was
the cause; but provoked that his daughter should conceal it, he said to
her in a rage, with his sabre in his hand: "Daughter, tell me what is
the matter, or I will cut off your head immediately."

The princess, more frightened at the tone of the enraged sultan than at
the sight of the drawn sabre, at last broke silence, and said with tears
in her eyes: "My dear father and sultan, I ask your majesty's pardon if
I have offended you, and hope that out of your goodness you will have
compassion on me."

After this preamble, which appeased the sultan, she told him what had
happened to her in so moving a manner, that he, who loved her tenderly,
was most sensibly grieved. She added: "If your majesty doubts the truth
of this account, you may inform yourself from my husband, who will tell
you the same thing."

The sultan immediately felt all the uneasiness so surprising an
adventure must have given the princess. "Daughter," said he, "you are
much to blame for not telling me this yesterday, since it concerns me as
much as yourself. I did not marry you to make you miserable, but that
you might enjoy all the happiness you might hope for from a husband, who
to me seemed agreeable to you. Efface all these troublesome ideas from
your memory; I will take care that you shall have no more such
disagreeable experiences."

As soon as the sultan had returned to his own apartment, he sent for the
grand vizier: "Vizier," said he, "have you seen your son, and has he
told you anything?" The vizier replied: "No." The sultan related all the
circumstances of which the princess had informed h